Today's NY Times (at least in NYC) has a photograph from yesterday's
political funeral in DC for Tim Bailey, a member of ACT UP and the Marys,
who died from AIDS. I'm still waiting to get more info from the people
there, but here's the AP story, reprinted w/o permission:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Police scuffled briefly with AIDS activists who
pulled the body of a dead colleague out of a van parked outside the
Capitol on Thursday.
Two men were arrested and charged with assaulting police officers and
obstruction of justice just before protesters held a "political funeral"
for Tim Bailey, 35, of New York City, a prominent AIDS activist. Bailey
died Monday of AIDS complications in New York.
The men arrested were James Aquino, 31, of New York, and Randall Bailey
of Youngstown, Ohio. Demonstrators said Bailey was the dead man's brother and
Aquino is a member of ACT UP's New York chapter.
About 60 members of ACT UP, a militant, confrontational AIDS activist
group, had planned to march Bailey's open coffin from the Capitol to the
White House, where they would hold a memorial service and denounce the
Clinton administration's response to the AIDS crisis.
But U.S. Capitol Police held up the marchers for several hours, saying
the protesters did not have all the necessary permits. At about 3:25 p.m.,
police said the protesters would be able to march, but not until after the
evening rush hour. Some demonstrators accused police of trying to keep the
event off the evening television news.
About 15 minutes later, angry ACT UP members pulled the coffin out of
the van. Police officers, some of them wearing rubber gloves, quickly shoved
it back during the scuffle.
Protesters then decided to hold the service where they stood, in a
Capitol parking lot. "President Clinton, the blood of Tim's death is on your
hands," protester Eric Sawyer said during his eulogy. "Tim's death is a
direct result of moral cowardice."
ACT UP also asked that Clinton reverse a decision to appoint Kristine
Gebbie as federal AIDS coordinator, saying she would be little more than a
low-level bureaucrat.
Shortly before his death, Bailey asked fellow ACT UP members to throw
his body over the White House gates. But group spokesman Scott Sawyer said
group members had no plans to do this.
Bailey "was enraged by the government's lethargy -- outright humanity -
- in confronting the AIDS crisis," the group said in a written statement.
"We told him we couldn't throw his body over the gates. Not because we
didn't share his fury. But because we loved him too much to treat his
mortal remains that way."
Before driving the coffin back to New York, ACT UP members stepped up
the coffin one by one to say their goodbye while reporters took photographs.
U.S. Capitol and District of Columbia police followed the van as it
drove away to make sure it was not driven to the White House.
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ACT UP! Fight Back! Fight AIDS!